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  • Woodford County High School
    High Road
    Woodford Green
    Essex
    IG8 9LA
  • Head: Ms Jo Pomeroy
  • T 020 8504 0611
  • F 020 8506 1880
  • E [email protected]
  • W www.woodford.r…dbridge.sch.uk/
  • A state school for girls aged from 11 to 18.
  • Boarding: No
  • Local authority: Redbridge
  • Pupils: 1,240; sixth formers: 346
  • Religion: Non-denominational
  • Open days: June dates TBC
  • Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
  • Ofsted:
    • Latest Overall effectiveness Good 1
      • 16-19 study programmes Outstanding 1
      • Outcomes for children and learners Outstanding 1
      • Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good 1
      • Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good 1
      • Effectiveness of leadership and management Good 1
    • 1 Full inspection 22nd November 2022
  • Previous Ofsted grade: Outstanding on 25th March 2009
  • Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report

What says..

Gets the best results in Redbridge. Also strong on value added. All the more impressive when you consider that many of the students speak a different language at home, with over 40 languages spoken between these bilingual (and often multilingual) girls. All teachers are subject specialists, whom girls say ‘can’t do enough for you.’ ‘The staff, from those in the office right up to the headteacher, really care about the girls and it’s that – more than any targets or pressure – that I think helps them succeed,’ said one parent. Peer support also helps – it’s in the very bones of the school, with ...

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What the school says...

Woodford County is an over-subscribed and highly successful grammar school for girls in the London Borough of Redbridge. It has a fine reputation for intellectual, artistic and sporting achievements. In all of these domains and others beside, students are encouraged to explore their own potential, nurturing existing talents and interests and discovering new ones along the way. Proud of the fact that the school's community is a happy and cohesive one, we see it as a major part of our purpose to prepare young people for the roles and responsibilities which will be theirs as adult members of a wider society.

The school is housed in a building of great character, the former manor of Highams built in 1768, and it has extensive and beautiful grounds designed by Humphrey Repton. This setting, and the colourful mix of tradition and innovation in the activities which make up the school year, contribute to the school's very distinctive identity.
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School associations

State grammar school

What The Good Schools Guide says

Headteacher

Since 2010, Jo Pomeroy, MA in English language and literature (St Andrews), MEd (Open), NPQH. Spent two years in a comprehensive in rural Scotland before going to work in France for three years. It was at this high-achieving international school that she became aware of ‘what bright students are capable of if they are given enough challenge'. Back in the UK she spent another three years working in a comprehensive school with strong languages bias and at that point ‘got interested in management, in getting into position where you could make a bigger change’. Sure enough, at her next appointment at a girls’ grammar in Surrey, where she spent 16 years, she eventually became deputy head.

Students seem to be in awe of her. ‘She has an open door policy and...

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Please note: Independent schools frequently offer IGCSEs or other qualifications alongside or as an alternative to GCSE. The DfE does not record performance data for these exams so independent school GCSE data is frequently misleading; parents should check the results with the schools.

Who came from where

Who goes where

Special Education Needs

The school’s SEN policy is in line with the Code of Practice. The school believes that all girls should be given opportunities which will enable each individual to reach her full potential and to make best use of her talents. There is a range of needs and we provide extension activities, support, or counselling as appropriate with the resources available to us. Whilst this is a selective school, and we are used to providing challenge for able pupils, we also have experience of catering for mild difficulties. If a child with special needs meets the entry criteria, we would look carefully at how best to meet those needs.

Condition Provision for in school
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder Y
Aspergers Y
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders
CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia
Dyscalculia
Dysgraphia
Dyslexia
Dyspraxia
English as an additional language (EAL)
Genetic
Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory
Has SEN unit or class
HI - Hearing Impairment
Hospital School
Mental health
MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment
Natspec Specialist Colleges
OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability
Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
PD - Physical Disability
PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication
SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
Special facilities for Visually Impaired
SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
VI - Visual Impairment

Interpreting catchment maps

The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.

Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.

For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained

Further reading

If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.

Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.

Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.

*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.

The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.

Children get into the school from here:

regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year


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